Mom partying inside illegal NYC club dies, dragged into back room and left for hours
August 12, 2023
A makeshift memorial outside the Astoria club stands where Stephanie Quinones died after workers failed to help her.
A Jackson Heights woman collapsed while partying inside an illegal Queens after-hours club, and instead of calling 911, workers dragged her to a back room, where they left her for hours until she died, her family claims.
Stephanie Quinones was celebrating her 35th birthday at the unnamed nightspot on 49th Street in Astoria on July 31 when she suddenly passed out, her family said.
The Post reviewed shocking footage showing bystanders slapping Quinones in the face, apparently to revive her, before hauling her off the dance floor by her arms.
The bartender at the club — which does not have a liquor license according to the State Liquor Authority — sent a picture of an unconscious Quinones to her mom in Florida, and began texting with her sister, Jasmine Gonzalez, who lives in the Bronx.
“Come get your drunk sister,” Gonzalez said she was told.
When Gonzalez — who said she didn’t realize how dire the situation was — arrived two hours later and finally called 911, club employees fled and locked her inside, where she discovered that her sister was dead.
Quinones died after collapsing in the Astoria after-hours club on July 31.
Residents and local NYC businesses said they have been terrorized by the club.
“I was doing compressions on a dead person,” Gonzalez said. “Everyone left me alone. No one even had the decency to stay.”
She stepped outside to hail down the approaching ambulance, then went back inside to her sister — but by the time the first responders made it down the block, workers had locked the club’s door.
“They all left because they did not want to be the one there when the cops got called,” she said.
Video circulating social media shows people slapping Quinones in the face, while she remains unresponsive.
Quinones was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital after paramedics arrived, her sister said. The NYPD said they were investigating a person declared dead on arrival at the location of the club on that night, although they did not identify Quinones by name.
“Someone would still have their mother if they just called 911,” said Gonzalez. “The thing that hurts me the most is, not only did they not call 911, but it was cruel to have me go over there, giving me hopes that she was alive.”
Adding to their grief, Quinones’ family and friends said they later found video on social media showing her lifeless on the dance floor.
A makeshift memorial for Quinones was erected in front of the club, where the door had to be knocked down to get her body out.
“These Instagrammers are circulating all this sh-t,” family friend and activist Talea Wufka said. “They’re all taking video, so they do everything but call 911.”
Gonzalez said she believes her sister was already dead when the video was taken.
“She didn’t have any reaction at all [in the video],” she said. “Usually people have a reaction.”
Laurel, Quinones’ 12-year-old daughter, is pictured with police in front of the memorial.
Meanwhile, residents and local businesses said they have been terrorized by the club, which is open throughout the night and into the early morning.
“If it’s an illegal establishment, this is the end result,” Wufka said. “They didn’t want police, they didn’t want an ambulance, because they didn’t want their illegal activities to be exposed.”
A nearby business owner who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution said the club initially said they were an insurance company when they moved in during the pandemic — and then began throwing late-night boozefests.
Family friend and activist Talea Wufka called out those who filmed the mom but didn’t help her.
Quinones’ family has since started a GoFundMe campaign that has so far raised nearly $25,000.
The medical examiner said it is investigating and still working to determine the cause of Quinones’ death.
Don't be a party pooper, even if it kills you.
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